Ink stamps used to mark corks that were used as evidence in the trial of wine dealer Rudy Kurniawan are on display in Federal Court on December 19, 2013 in New York. Kurniawan was found guilty of masterminding a lucrative scheme to sell fake vintage wine in New York and London. AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDASTAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images

It's January and crystal-ball time again. Here are my five wine themes for 2014:

1) California rising: It has been for several years, actually, but last January, I predicted that the state's new raft of producers and wine styles would hit the mainstream. It did just that. Whether you believe there's a tectonic shift in styles or simply a blip in diversity, what's clear is that wine buyers across the country are vibing on California in a way they haven't for years.

In addition to the diversity, some other things are in the mix for 2014. We're about to enjoy a handful of bountiful, ripe vintages; even if you doubted the quality of cold 2011, there's a raft of good wine from 2012 and 2013 about to hit the market.

We're also witnessing a raft of vineyard replanting. It's visible all over Napa, but there's also a scramble to replant in more industrial San Joaquin vineyards - as well as growing competition with more water-stingy crops like almonds, given the persistent drought. On the numbers, these might sound bad. But they also present an opportunity for quality to go up. Any which way, it's a golden moment for California wine.

2) Sparkling wine gets serious: For one, it's clear that Champagne is finally starting to be appreciated as a wine, rather than just bling in a bottle. This includes the continuing surge of grower Champagnes (made by the farmer rather than by a large house) that has continued for nearly two decades. But even the large houses are taking themselves more seriously, drying out the style of their often slightly sweet wines.

Add to that the rise of serious cava, the popularity of artisan ciders and even an improbable boost for Italian Franciacorta. Perhaps most auspiciously, a handful of small California labels, mostly focused on single-vineyard bubbles, are set to pop this year, including the Under the Wire project and a wine from Wenzlau in Santa Barbara made with a hand from Champagne's Cedric Bouchard.

This is affirmation of something we've known for a long time: fizz deserves to be part of our regular wine lives.

3) The end of connoisseurship: Overstating it, perhaps, but 2013 arguably stuck a fork in a decade's worth of orgiastic grabs for rare wine, a trend that left most collectible wines out of reach for mere mortals.

What happened? Rudy Kurniawan, known as a famed collector until his 2012 arrest and conviction, last month revealed that many of his wines were counterfeit, including some sold in a 2006 auction that grossed $24.6 million.

The Rudy case brought gobs of (deserved) schadenfreude, but more poignantly, a chilling punctuation on something we've known for years: All the concern over faking rare wines was an outgrowth of a wine auction market dominated by those with bank accounts as big as their egos. Connoisseurship was no longer a civilized effort; it was blood sport with Riedel and caviar.

Now, auctions - and collecting - are hardly going away; there's no shortage of expensive bottles to cradle at night. (Even if they were harshly dented, the Asian market is set to swoop in where Americans have cold feet.) But a course correction has already begun.

4) Zinfandel grows up - again: Not that it wasn't being taken seriously, but this year we'll witness serious wine types give it proper reverence once more - mostly because there's a critical mass of great and diverse wines that show terroir and offer the nuance that has been largely lost in the wilderness for the past decade.

I've hit this theme before, but here's the best proof: The Zinfandel Advocates & Producers festival has retooled its format from the drunkfest of the past to a smaller and more studious effort at the Presidio later this month. Nerding out over Zin? It's happening.

5) Wine distribution gets whiplash: It's funny - less than nine years ago, with the Supreme Court set to rule on bans against wine shipping, we watched with straight faces a raft of alarmist coverage implying that direct wine shipments might lead to an evil undertow. Would our great nation succumb to an epidemic of underage Pinot Noir bingeing if we shipped wine by UPS?

Clearly not. (Although, note to Massachusetts: Come join the 21st century.) The rise of direct wine sales has only helped diversify American tastes, although its rise - by 8 percent last year to $1.56 billion, according to Wines & Vines - hasn't kept from big liquor distributors continuing their rush to consolidation.

Big distributors - who typically place fine wine far down on their priority lists under expensive vodka and cheap plonk - are hardly under threat. But we're going to see more opportunities for smaller distributors to compete in many states that have laws tailored to favor the big boys.

This fight will drag on for a while; look no further than the battle in New York over the "at rest" provision, which would require distributors to warehouse their inventory in state - a big advantage for big distributors. (More modestly, look at the changes last year that allowed small California distillers to have customers taste samples at their distilleries.)

And why would the three-tier system suddenly face headwind? Two states - namely Colorado and Washington. On January 1, Colorado began legal sales of marijuana, a controlled substance far more controversial than alcohol; Washington's sales will presumably start by the summer. In its first week, Colorado generated an estimated $5 million in sales. That means real tax revenue.

How long, then, will it take for lawmakers to give a new look at our nation's mostly outdated alcohol laws?